Eudora

In 1857, as the Civil War loomed on the horizon, a group of German emigrants from Chicago purchased a 774-acre town site from Shawnee Indian Chief Paschal Fish, Jr., whose young daughter, Eudora, gave this town its name. During the Civil War, Providence spared Eudora much of the fighting that raged throughout the area between the Jayhawkers of Kansas and the Missouri Bushwhackers. The ruins of nearby Lawrence were still smoldering from Quantrill's infamous attack when the first loads of lumber arrived from Eudora's sawmill to rebuild the town.

Near the southwest city limits are ruts cut into the Kansas prairie by wagons carrying travelers along the Oregon Trail. The Pilla House, built in 1895 by a prominent Eudora businessman, has been restored to its former grandeur. Many Eudora churches have been restored to their former grandeur as well. For more information, call 785-542-1212.